When the Tears Fall
by iwilldeduceyoulove
Summary: Set at the end of 4x15. Tyler isn't answering his phone and Caroline is home alone trying to deal with her grief. She finds herself dialing a number she never thought she would call, especially not after recent events. In the aftermath of everything, can Klaus put her back together again? Klaroline. Maybe a bit OC. First fanfic so Read and Review?
1. Chapter 1

"Tyler, just call me back. Please?" The last word was almost a whimper. With a deep breath Caroline hung up her phone and laid it on her bedside table.

She wanted to cry. She wanted to scream out for someone, anyone, to help, to make it better. But all her friends were in the exact position she was. No one had time to comfort her. They had their own emotions to deal with.

She felt her heart constricting, the grief beginning to hit her like a tidal wave. Jeremy was dead, Elena's humanity was gone, Tyler was on the run, and she was alone. There was nothing she could do to fix it. No amount of home-baked casseroles or cups of tea would make a difference. Not this time.

She heard a ragged sobbing sound and idly wondered where it was coming from, only to realize seconds later that it was her. She gasped, tears streaming down her face and began to sob harder. She needed someone, she couldn't be alone tonight.

Through her tears she reached for her phone and scrolled through her contacts to find his number. She knew she shouldn't call him. In fact, she shouldn't ever speak to him again especially after what happened with Tyler. But she needed him and right now she didn't give a damn about what anyone would say about it.

He picked up on the first ring.

"And to what do I owe this pleasure?"

His sweet accent flowed from her phone. She couldn't answer. She only sobbed harder.

_How did things get this bad? Why did this have to happen?_ The questions cycled through her mind.

"Caroline? Love, what's wrong?"

Once again she couldn't answer. She just cried into the phone, hoping that he would just understand. That he would make it better.

_This can't be real. This can't be happening. _

"I'm driving over."

She could hear the sound of his car accelerating through the phone. The growl of the engine increased as the tires screeched through turns. Then, there was the sound of a car door slamming outside and shortly after the sound of her front door opening and closing.

She continued to clutch the phone to her ear, unable to let it go.

_This wasn't supposed to happen. It wasn't supposed to end this way._

She saw a shadow on the floor and looked up, blinking the tears out of her eyes. He was standing in the doorway to her room, his eyes full of concern.

After a moment he walked carefully towards her as though approaching a frightened animal.

"Caroline." He murmured soothingly, coming to kneel down in front of her whilst his hand reached upwards to gently hold the hand that was still clutching her phone.

"Caroline, love, let go."

His words pierced through the haze of emotions that were enveloping her and she relaxed her hand slightly. He gently removed the phone from her hand, ended the call, and placed it on her bedside table.

_You need to tell him. You need to explain. Speak Caroline!_

"Jer- Jeremy's dead and Elena lost her humanity and- and…" she said in between sobs, desperately trying to explain.

"Shhh. It's alright, love. Come here." He murmured, moving next to her on the bed and gently pulling her down to lay her head on his chest. He pulled up the blankets to cover them and wrapped his arms around her, placing his lips on her hair.

Hours passed and he continued to hold her, gently rubbing her back as her tears soaked through his Henley.

Slowly, her sobs quieted into whimpers and sniffles and soon after that the soft rhythm of this hand rubbing her back lulled her into an exhausted sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**Wow! Thanks for the support on the last chapter! Here's the next one. It's a bit dark. I might have gotten a little carried away. Read and Review if you can :)**

Caroline looked around her curiously. She was in the forest beyond the Wickery Bridge. Judging from the thickness of the trees she guessed that the cemetery wasn't too far away.

_How fitting._ She thought to herself sadly. Death always seemed to be looming around her life these days.

A cold breeze blew her hair back from her face and she shivered, pulling her jacket closer around her.

_How did I get here?_ She couldn't remember walking or parking her car anywhere. In fact, she didn't remember coming here at all.

She shook her head, trying to clear her jumbled thoughts, and looked around her again. It was dark, the moon already high in the sky, but her heightened eyesight allowed her to see a mile or so in each direction.

Out of the darkness she saw a pale shape on the forest floor in the distance. She walked a few steps closer to the object, trying to discern what it could be. It almost looked like…

_A body._

The breath rushed out of her with the realization and she ran towards it.

"Elena?"

There was no mistaking it. It was Elena. Her hair was fanned out around her face, her eyes closed, and her skin was an odd pale color.

Something wasn't right.

_Why is Elena here? What happened? Why does she look so pale?_

She knelt down next to her friend, examining her body for injuries.

_What if it's Katherine?_ The thought stopped her in her tracks.

She ran her eyes over the body. It was Elena. It had to be. Katherine was gone, presumably running from Silas whilst planning her next move with the cure. She wouldn't be in the forests of Mystic Falls.

Satisfied with her logic, Caroline reached to place her fingers on Elena's neck, feeling for a pulse. She retracted her hand immediately, beginning to panic.

She had no pulse.

_No. That can't be true. _She chided herself. There was no stake. Elena couldn't be dead. She probably had put her fingers in the wrong spot. _Just try again._ She told herself calmly.

She took a deep breath and reached out her shaking hand to Elena's neck again, only to withdraw it seconds later.

There was no pulse.

"No. No no no no no no." She felt her body begin to shake as she grabbed hold of her friend's arms. "Elena. Elena! Elena, please!" she screamed, shaking her friend.

Elena made no response, her head loosely bobbing as Caroline shook her.

Caroline dropped her body to the ground, standing up and stumbling backwards.

"No. No, this isn't happening. No." she whispered, her hand reaching up to cover her mouth as her breaths began to come in gasps. Tears filled her eyes as she continued to back away.

Suddenly, her foot collided with something solid and she tripped backwards, falling onto the cold dirt.

Blinking the tears out of her eyes, Caroline shook her head, bringing herself to a sitting position on the ground. She looked around for what she had tripped over and felt her body go cold.

Bonnie was lying on the ground beside her.

"Bonnie?" Caroline cried. Bonnie's eyes were open and for a moment Caroline relaxed in relief. Only, Bonnie didn't move and as Caroline leaned closer to look at her friend, she found Bonnie's eyes staring blankly at her. "Bonnie. Bonnie?" Caroline begged. Desperate, she reached out her hand to touch Bonnie's hand on the ground beside her and recoiled.

It was ice cold.

"No. No! Bonnie!" she cried, getting up from her position on the ground. Standing up, Caroline noticed figures in her peripheral vision and looked around.

Her friends all lay on the ground surrounding her, lifeless. Elena, Bonnie, Matt, Jeremy, Tyler, Stefan, Damon, and even, in the far corner, Klaus, were all on the forest floor, dead.

From a distance she heard someone screaming but couldn't distinguish where the noise was coming from. The world slowly started to tip and fade in and out of focus as her knees grew weak.

"Caroline." The voice sounded far away, too far to pay attention to.

"Caroline. Caroline!" A hand gripped her shoulder firmly and, soon after, strong arms enveloped her shaking form, blocking her vision, and filling her senses with a familiar scent of oak, parchment, and honey. Then, the world went dark.

**Don't hate me! I wouldn't actually kill off all of the characters. I promise I'll make it better in the next chapter! :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey guys! Sorry it took so long for me to update. I spent most of my weekend visiting a college and contemplating my future. Heavy stuff! Here's chapter three.**

Caroline woke up with a gasp, shooting up in her bed. Strong arms wrapped around her and she struggled violently, screaming.

"Caroline. Caroline, it's me!" Klaus said quickly, his voice tense with his efforts to restrain her attack.

Caroline's struggle subsided as she looked to find the person in whose arms she was contained.

Pained blue eyes stared back at her.

"Klaus?" she whispered.

Her panicked movements stopped. She felt her body begin to shake violently, her breaths coming in ragged gasps.

"They were all dead. Everyone was dead. I was alone. I- I couldn't…" She said brokenly, sobs beginning to wrack her body.

Klaus shushed her gently, changing their position to pull her closer into his arms, her head finding the crook of his neck.

"It was a dream, love. It was just a dream." He whispered to her, beginning a stream of comforting words to calm her.

He held her close, his thoughts circling in his head. His poor, strong Caroline. He had never seen her so broken. How privileged and yet unfortunate he was to ever see his angel so vulnerable.

She had fought him when she woke up, yes, but as soon as she had realized it was him, she had relaxed. She had broken down, clinging to him for comfort. This act of complete trust astounded him.

He had done so much to hurt her. How could she still trust him with not only her life but, also, her heart?

Slowly, her body relaxed against his, her sobs quieting to shaky breaths and sniffles. He rubbed her back gently.

"Alright?" he murmured to her, feeling her beginning to calm.

"Yeah." She whispered back, her voice slightly unsteady.

She nuzzled closer into his neck, taking a shaky breath.

He let her move closer into him, sensing her need for more comfort.

Caroline smiled softly as he wrapped his arms tighter around her, effectively grounding her and holding her together.

She knew this shouldn't feel right, his arms tight around her, his scent filling her senses, but, right now, it did. She knew she should feel embarrassed for breaking down in front of him twice but she also knew that he would never hold it against her.

She felt his hand move to cradle her head, his fingers gently smoothing down her hair.

A sense of calm filled her and marveled again at how this man who had killed people she loved, nearly killed her, and tried to tear her life apart, could treat her with such tenderness. He would never stop surprising her.

After a few moments of peaceful quiet, she lifted her head out of the safety of his neck to look at him.

His blue eyes searched hers, his face softening to a look of understanding as his hands reached up to cradle her face, wiping away a few stray tears with his thumbs.

She was so beautiful. Even with her eyes red from crying and her thick, blond hair in a messy bun, she looked like an angel.

Her blue eyes looked so sad, his heart breaking as he took them in. He would never hurt her again. He couldn't. There was only so much this angel could take before she broke to the point of no repair. He would not be the person that brought that about.

He promised this silently to himself. From now on he would protect her, take care of her, and be whatever she needed him to be. He would do anything to never have to see this look in her eyes ever again.

"How about some tea, hmm?" He murmured gently, a small smile on his lips.

"Okay." She whispered.

"Okay." He repeated softly, bringing her head closer to his and placing a small, chaste kiss on her forehead.

Letting go of her head, he moved to stand beside the bed, holding his hands out to help her up.

She looked at his hands for a moment. She could deny them, save herself for Tyler; wait in vain for the day that he finally came back for her. She could try to fight her battles alone, again. Heck, that's probably what she should do. It's what her friends would tell her to do.

She looked into his eyes, searching for a hint of something she shouldn't trust, a reason to tell him no. He met her eyes steadily, showing her as much as he could through them, willing her to understand.

She would trust him, she decided. Maybe Tyler would come back one day, but until then, she wasn't sure she could do this on her own and, with Klaus, she wouldn't have to.

_I'm sorry Tyler. I love you._

She reached her hands out to grab his and let him pull her up and lead her downstairs to her kitchen, hoping she had made the right decision.

**Hope you liked it! Should I continue? Where should I take it? Read and let me know what you think! 3**


	4. Chapter 4

**I know, I know. This update took forever. Sorry to have kept you all waiting for so long! I've been swamped with multiple papers and writing a speech this past few week. Anyway here's Chapter 4!**

Klaus set a steaming mug in front of Caroline, smiling slightly as he turned around to pour steaming liquid into a second mug for himself.

Caroline inhaled the steam rising from her mug, the foreign scent filling her with an odd sense of peace.

"Where did you get this? It's not mine." She didn't recognize the scent and she knew every kind of tea hidden in her cabinets.

He smiled at her. "It's French. It's called Eros, c'est un thé noir parfumé." Klaus said in smooth French.

"I had Kol drop it off among other things last night." He further explained, bringing the mug to his lips and taking a slow, languid sip.

A rush ran through Caroline at the sound of French flowing easily from Klaus's mouth. She looked at him in surprise, taking in his appearance more closely.

He had changed his clothes during the night. His black Henley was gone, replaced with a collared shirt of a deep blue color.

_Kol must have dropped that off for him too._

She hadn't even noticed the change until now. She chided herself for not being more observant.

"I like it." She said simply, shaking herself out of her own thoughts.

Caroline brought the mug to her lips, taking a small sip of the sweet, warm liquid, sighing as she felt it slide down her throat.

He watched her sip from her mug, his eyes catching and holding hers.

His eyes were so…_ blue…as blue as the ocean._

She could drown in those eyes.

Caroline put her mug down suddenly and the sound of it hitting the wooden counter broke the moment abruptly.

She shook herself, clearing her throat and looking down to the counter, avoiding his eyes.

He smiled at the blush creeping into her cheeks, taking another sip from his mug.

"So, you speak French?" Caroline asked after a few moments of comfortable silence, her mind traveling back to his rough voice caressing a French accent.

"Oui." He smiled at her. "Paris is beautiful. You would love it."

"I've always wanted to go."

Wistful images of the Eiffel tower, rich French foods, and quaint cafes flitted across her mind.

Caroline had asked her mom to take her to Paris years ago but they had never gone. Her mom had loved the idea and promised her that they would go during one of Caroline's school breaks but every time one had come around she had been swamped with work at the police station. After a few years Caroline had given up hoping.

"One day, I'll take you there." Klaus said softly, breaking her out of her reverie. "If you'll let me." He added, reminding himself that though he had the privilege to spend this time with her, she was not his.

She smiled at him and he smiled back, catching her eyes again.

It was times like these that she felt like she got to see the real Klaus, the one who is gentle, caring, and loving.

He was so strong yet he treated her as if she were made of porcelain, like she would break any second.

_Well isn't that why he's here?_ She asked herself.

He was only here because she begged him, because she couldn't bear to be alone, because

_Jeremy…_

_And Elena…_

She couldn't finish the thought.

Klaus seemed to notice a change in her and set his mug down, walking around the counter to stand next to her.

He wrapped his strong arms around her, pulling her gently to his chest.

As the tears spilled over again, she didn't need to say anything. He knew.

**Thank you for reading! Reviews are much appreciated! xoxo**


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